Draft-rigging.



DRAFT RIGGING.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 21, 1912.

Patented July 25,1916.

GEORGE H. FORSY'IH, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOllS ,ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO

WAUGH DRAFT GEAR COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

DBAFT-RIGGING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

To all whom/it m my concern 131 it known that I, Gnoucn H. FonsY'rn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of lllinois, have invented certain ne and useful Improvements in Draft-Rigging, of which the followingis a specification.

.My invention relates to draft rigging for railway cars. and pertain-s generally to that class of draft rigging devices'vhich is employed in association with a longitudinally movable member, adapted totransmit draft and bailing strains, elastic resistance devices to absorb such strains, and follower members through which the strains areiimparted to'said resistance devices land to the draft sills of the car.

Certain features of the invention further relate to novel arrangements of stops and motion transmitting members for the followers.

The principal object of the present invention isto provide a draft rigging of high capacity which will at the same time permit relatively long travel or longitudinal movement of the draw-bar, together with means whereby the draft and bufiing straiusare distributed to effect the prevention of breakage or unusual wear of parts. a

Preferred means. for accomplishing the abovementioned and other objects-arc illustratedin the accompanying drawingsifornr ing part of this specification, and in which:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the device, and Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof. In each view the parts are shown in section.

In the construction herein. illustrated and described the center sills 5, comprising outwardly-turned channel. irons, are arranged in the usual manner. On the inside surface of the sills three pairs of oppositely disposedstops, 6, 6, 7, 7 and 8, 8,are secured by riveting. To reduce the shearing strain upon the rivets and to provide stronger connection betweenthe stops and the center 1 sills, thesestop castings are preferably provided with lugs 6, 7 and 8, which are accommodated in'suitabl e apertures 6, 7 and 8, respectively, in the sills 5. I The draft bar-9 is provided with the usual yoke or ex- "tensioiilO. a

As will be readily observed from the drawings, thezfnd and intermediate steps (3, 7 and 8 divide the space between the center sills into two compartments or pockets 11 and 12. These pockets accommodate the two pairs 'of reversely disposed follower blocks 13 and let, 15 and 16, each of-which follower-sis provided with a convexly curved bearing surfacell, 14, 15 and 16, respectively, substantially as shown. Between they end follower l3 and the intermediate fole lower 14 is what I shall term a medial follower 17, and between the intermediate follower 15 and the end follower 16 is a similar medial follows: 18, which medial followers 17 and 18 are, respectively, provided with double concavegearing surfaces 17 and 18 of substantially the same curvature as that of the convex bearing surfaces on the intermediate and end followers mentioned. Groups of spring plates 19, 20, 21 and22 between the end and medial and between the medial and intermediate followers respectively, and cooperating therewith, constitute the elastic resistance media of the device. A sliding block 23, conveniently held in position and guided by the inner surfaces of the intermediate stops 7, has its ends in contact with the intermediate followers l4 and 15 respectively, while the inner surfaces of the draw-bar 9 and the yoke 10 contact respectively the end followers 13 and 16. The followers and spring elements are suitably held in alined position horizontally by supporting plates Qlbolted to the stop castings.

The illustration of Fig. 1 shows this drawbar mechanism in normal position-that is,

ready, to receive either draft or buiiing,

strains. In this position the followers 13 and 16 are incontact with the stops (3 and 8 respectively, there being normally a space between each of the followers 14 and 15 and the intermediate stops 7 to allow movement of the draw-bar in either direction and to communicate motion from one group of ,spring elements to theother. It will now be understood that when a butiing strain comes upon the draw-bar, such strain will be com- Patented Jur 25, 1916.

muni'cated through all of the springs and; followers and the sliding block 23, to the stop 8, and that each of the spring platesin eaoh of the groups of spring elements will be flexed through the arrangement of alter nate convex andconcave spring-pressing surfaces on the followeis. It is also apparentthat as the pressure or strain continues, the follower let is natu ally forced into contact with the stops The movement of the draw-bar 9 under bufiing strain when the follower Isl is in Contact with the stops 7 (assuming the strength of the spring elements in each pocket to be the same) is double the movement which would have taken place if the draw-bar had acted upon the spring elements of only one of the pockets, and, in any event, the total movement of the draw-bar is equal to the sum of or combined movement of all of the groups of springjelements in the device.

It is evident that if the several groups of spring elements have substantially the same power of resistance, said spring elements will reach their maximum elliciency, or, in other words, g0 solid, at substantially the same time and after substantially the same degree offlexure or travel. The arrangement of the intermediate stops 7 is such that the follower 14 comes into abutment therewith substantially the same instant that the springfelements in each of the two pools ets go solidw Under draft strains the ac tion is the same, but in reversed order, the follower 1;) contacting the intermediate stops 7 at the instant the groups of spring elements become rigid, as will be readily understood.

As the spring plates mentioned may be readily inserted in or withdrawn from any of the several groups thereof, it is evident that the resistance of these spring elements may be made as desired. It is also clear that the strength of the springs in one pocket may be made greater than in another, wherebyafter the springs in one pocket have gone solid there will still be a residual resiliency in the spring elements of the other pocket. By this arrangement the ordinary butting strains may be" absorbed by the combined action of the springs of the two pockets acting through the desired long travel afforded by the present arrangement, while additional buffing shockswill' be at least partially absorbed by the residual resiliency of the other spring elements before the spring elements are all solid and the end and intermediate stops receive any finalstrains too great for the springs to carry. 1

While there are shown in the drawings clusters of the same number of spring plates of substantially the same capacity, the plates in one pocket may, of course, be made heavier, and, consequently, a smaller number thereof used than 1I1 fl10 other pocket. And while there has been shown a pair of intermediate followers communicating strains from one to the otlierthrough amovable block, it is pointed out that these two followers and the block may be formed integral with each other or otherwise rigidly connected.

It will be apparent that many other changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of the various parts herein illustrated and described without departing from the spirit or scope of this invention.

\Vhat I claim is:

1. In a draft rigging, the combination of a draw-bar, a yoke thereon, an end follower abutting said draw-bar, an end follower abutting said yoke, a longitudinally movable block, a follower abutting each end respectively of said movable block, an abutment stop between said last-mentioned followers, one of which follmvers is adapted to contact said abutment stop under draft strains and the other is adapted to contact the same under balling strains,and spring elements disposed between said end followers and said second'mentioned followers re 'spectively, the arrangement being such that the total movement of the draw-bar under draft or bailing strains is equal to the combined movement of said spring elements, substantially as described.

In a draft rigging, the combination of a draw-bar, an extension thereon, end followers in abutment with said draw-bar and extension respectively, end almtment stops normally in engagement with said end followers respectively, a pair of intermediate followers, an intermediate abutment stop between and normally out of engagement with said intermediate followers, but adapted to be engaged by one of said intermediate followers under buffing strains and by the other under draft strains, rigid strain-tramsmitting means between the intermediate followers, and spring elements between said intermediate and end followers respectively, the arrangement being such that the total movement of the draw'bar equals the combined movement of said spring elements, and said abutment stop takes part of the balling and draft strains, substantially as described.

3. In a draft rigging, the combination of a'draw-bar, an extension thereon, a lurality of sets of spring elements actuate( by said draw-bar and extension, a rigid spacing element disposed between the sets of spring elements, end stops normally in engagement with said spring elements, an intermediate stop normally out of engagement with said spring elements but adapted to be engaged by one of said spring elements under butting strains and by the other under draft strains, whereby said intermediate stop receives part of the bufiing and draft strains applied to said draw-bars, substantially as described.

4. In a draft rigging, the combination of a drawbar, an extension thereon, end and intermediate stops, end followers normally in engagement with said end stops, an inopposite sides of and normally out of engagement with said intermediate stops, and

. other under bufling strains, and springs disspring elements between said end and intermediate followers respectively, there being no fixed connection between either said draw-bar 01' said extension and any of said followers or spring elements, substantially as described.

5. Ina draft rigging, the combination of a draw-bar, a connection therefor, end and intermediate stops, end and intermediate followers, spring elements between said end and intermediate followers respectively, the intermediate follower comprising a pair of elements disposed on opposite sides of the intermediate stop, and a spacing block, movable with said intermediate follower relative to said draw-bar and stop, between said pair of elements.

6. In a draft rigging, the combination of a draw-bar, a yoke, end followers abutting respectively the draw-bar and yoke, an intermediate member comprising end follower elements and an intermediate connecting block element moving therewith, end stops arranged to engage the end followers, and

an intermediate stop disposed between the follower elements of the mterposed member and adapted to contact with one of the follower elements under draft and with the posed between said end followers and the follower elements of the member. p

7. In a draft-rigging, the combination of a draw-bar, a connection therefor, an end follower abutting said draw-bar and an end follower abutting said connection, a spacing block longitudinally movable relative to said draw-bar and connection, a follower abuttin eac of said followers having a curved mtermediate 40 each end respectively, of said block,

spring-pressing surface, a plurality of groups of plate spring elements abutting the curved surfaces of said followers, other followers between said groups of spring elements having opposite surfaces curved reversely to the curvature of the follower sur- GEORGE i H. FORSYTHQ Witnesses:

LUTHER JOHNS,

S. E. HANNEN. 

